Sentence Structure and Rhetorical Strategy

Sentence Structure and Rhetorical Strategy questions on the ACT English section go beyond basic grammar. They test your ability to recognize structural errors (fragments, run-ons, misplaced modifiers, faulty parallelism) and to make strategic decisions about how a passage is organized, what information to include or exclude, and how to achieve a specific purpose.

Sentence Fragments

A sentence must have a subject, a verb, and express a complete thought. Fragments are incomplete sentences that are punctuated as if they were complete.

• Missing subject: "Ran to the store and bought milk." — Who ran?
• Missing verb: "The dog in the yard." — What about the dog?
• Dependent clause alone: "Because she was tired." — This needs an independent clause to complete the thought.
• Fix: Attach the fragment to an adjacent sentence or add the missing element.

Additional fragment examples:

• "-ing" trap: "The scientist studying the effects of pollution." This looks like a sentence but has no main verb — "studying" is a participle, not a finite verb. Fix: "The scientist was studying the effects of pollution."
• "Which" fragment: "Which made the audience laugh." This is a dependent clause. Fix: attach it to the previous sentence with a comma: "He told a joke, which made the audience laugh."
• Appositive as sentence: "A talented musician and composer." This renames something but has no verb. Fix: "She was a talented musician and composer."

Run-On Sentences and Comma Splices

A run-on sentence joins two independent clauses without proper punctuation or a conjunction. A comma splice is a specific type of run-on that uses only a comma.
More run-on examples:

• Fused sentence: "The alarm rang the students rushed out." No punctuation at all between two clauses. Fix: "The alarm rang, and the students rushed out."
• Conjunctive adverb trap: "The alarm rang, however the students stayed calm." "However" is NOT a FANBOYS conjunction — a comma before it creates a splice. Fix: "The alarm rang; however, the students stayed calm."

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

A modifier should be placed as close as possible to the word it modifies. A dangling modifier has no clear word to modify.

• Misplaced: "She almost drove her car for six hours." → "She drove her car for almost six hours."
• Dangling: "Walking through the park, the flowers were beautiful." — The flowers weren't walking. Fix: "Walking through the park, I noticed the beautiful flowers."
• ACT strategy: When a sentence begins with a modifying phrase followed by a comma, the subject immediately after the comma must be the thing being modified.

Example: "Having studied all night, the exam seemed easy."
Who studied all night? Not "the exam." Corrected: "Having studied all night, she found the exam easy."

More modifier examples:

• Dangling: "After reviewing the data, the conclusion was clear." Who reviewed the data? Fix: "After reviewing the data, the researchers reached a clear conclusion."
• Misplaced "only": "She only ate the salad" (she did nothing else with it?) vs. "She ate only the salad" (she ate nothing else). On the ACT, "only" should be placed directly before the word it modifies.
• Squinting modifier: "Students who study frequently earn high grades." Does "frequently" modify "study" or "earn"? Rewrite for clarity: "Students who frequently study earn high grades."

Parallel Structure

Items in a list, comparison, or paired construction must be in the same grammatical form.

• Wrong: "She likes hiking, swimming, and to ride bikes."
• Right: "She likes hiking, swimming, and riding bikes."
• Watch for parallelism with correlative conjunctions: "not only...but also," "either...or," "both...and."
• Example: "The job requires both strong communication skills and the ability to work independently." (noun phrase + noun phrase)

More parallelism examples:

• Wrong: "The coach told the players to stretch, to hydrate, and that they should rest." Fix: "...to stretch, to hydrate, and to rest."
• Wrong: "Not only did she win the race, but she also was setting a new record." Fix: "Not only did she win the race, but she also set a new record."
• Comparison parallelism: "Running a marathon is harder than to swim a mile." Fix: "Running a marathon is harder than swimming a mile."

Transitions

Transition words and phrases connect ideas logically. The ACT tests whether you can choose the right transition for the relationship between sentences or paragraphs.
Strategy for transition questions: Cover the transition word, read the sentence before and after, and predict the relationship. Then find the option that matches your prediction.

Worked transition examples:

• Sentence 1: "The new policy reduced costs by 30%." Sentence 2: "_____, employee satisfaction declined." The ideas oppose each other → use a contrast transition: "However" or "Nevertheless."
• Sentence 1: "The volcano erupted violently." Sentence 2: "_____, thousands of residents were evacuated." One caused the other → use a cause/effect transition: "As a result" or "Consequently."
• Common trap: "The restaurant had excellent reviews. Therefore, we decided to try their new dessert menu." This looks correct, but if the passage says the reviews were specifically about desserts, "Therefore" works. If the reviews were about something unrelated, a different transition is needed. Always read carefully.

Adding, Revising, and Deleting Sentences

Some questions ask whether a sentence should be added or deleted, and why. To answer these:

• Consider whether the sentence is relevant to the paragraph's main idea.
• Check if it provides necessary support, a useful example, or an effective transition.
• If it introduces an unrelated tangent or repeats information, it should be deleted.
• Always evaluate the reason given in each answer choice — the ACT may offer a correct action with a wrong reason.

Add/Delete example:
Paragraph about the history of jazz music: "Jazz originated in New Orleans in the early 20th century. [Proposed addition: The city is also known for its famous Mardi Gras celebrations.] Many early jazz musicians performed in clubs along Bourbon Street."

• Should the sentence be added? No. While it is about New Orleans, it is about Mardi Gras — not jazz. It introduces an off-topic tangent.
• Watch the reasoning: An answer might say "No, because it contradicts the passage." That reason is wrong — it does not contradict anything. The correct reason is: "No, because it introduces information not relevant to the paragraph's focus on jazz."

Paragraph and Passage Organization

The ACT may ask you to reorder sentences within a paragraph or paragraphs within a passage.

• Look for chronological clues, topic sentences, and concluding sentences.
• Transition words can signal where a sentence belongs.
• A sentence that introduces a new idea should come before sentences that elaborate on it.
• Strategy: For sentence-placement questions, try the sentence in each suggested position and see where it creates the smoothest logical flow.

Organization worked example:
"[1] The team celebrated after the victory. [2] They had trained for six months leading up to the tournament. [3] In the final match, they scored the winning goal in the last minute. [4] Their coach had designed a rigorous practice schedule."
Logical order: [2], [4], [3], [1] — training → coach's plan → final match → celebration. Look for chronological and cause-effect clues.

Common Mistakes: Top 5 ACT Structure/Rhetoric Traps

1. Comma splice disguised as a long sentence: The ACT adds a lot of words between two independent clauses to make a comma splice harder to spot. Always check: is there a complete sentence on BOTH sides of the comma?
2. Dangling modifier after a complex intro: "Having been debated by Congress for over a year and revised multiple times by the committee, the public eagerly awaited the bill." The public did not debate. The subject after the comma must match the modifier.
3. Wrong transition that "sounds right": "Furthermore" and "However" can both sound plausible. Always check: do the sentences agree or disagree? Choose accordingly.
4. Correct action, wrong reason: On add/delete questions, the ACT may say "Yes, add it because it provides a relevant example" when the sentence is actually off-topic. Evaluate BOTH the action AND the reason.
5. Parallelism broken by a verb form change: In a list of three items, the first two match (e.g., gerunds) but the third switches to an infinitive. Always check the last item in a list.

"NO CHANGE" Strategy

For sentence structure and rhetorical strategy questions, "NO CHANGE" works a bit differently than for simple grammar questions:

• On structural questions (fragments, run-ons, modifiers): NO CHANGE means the original has no structural error. Test it by asking: Is this a complete sentence? Is the modifier placed correctly? If yes, NO CHANGE may be right.
• On rhetorical questions (transitions, add/delete, ordering): NO CHANGE means the current transition or placement is already the best option. Read the surrounding sentences carefully before deciding.
• Key insight: For rhetorical questions, students often change things that do not need changing. If the original transition logically connects the ideas, leave it. Do not assume every question has an error.
• Roughly 25% of all ACT English answers are NO CHANGE. If you have not picked it in a while, you are probably overthinking some questions.

Practice Walkthrough

ACT-style passage question — work through it step by step:

Passage excerpt: "Determined to finish the project on time, the deadline was met by the engineering team despite numerous setbacks."

(A) NO CHANGE
(B) the engineering team met the deadline
(C) meeting the deadline was accomplished by the engineering team
(D) it was the engineering team that met the deadline

Step 1 — Identify the issue: The sentence opens with a participial phrase: "Determined to finish the project on time." The subject after the comma must be the one who was "determined."
Step 2 — Check the original: "the deadline was met by the engineering team" — "the deadline" is the subject, but a deadline cannot be "determined." This is a dangling modifier.
Step 3 — Evaluate each choice:

• (A) NO CHANGE — dangling modifier. The deadline was not determined. Wrong.
• (B) "the engineering team met the deadline" — the team was determined. Subject matches modifier. Concise. Correct.
• (C) "meeting the deadline was accomplished by the engineering team" — "meeting the deadline" is the subject, not "the team." Still dangles. Also wordy. Wrong.
• (D) "it was the engineering team that met the deadline" — the grammatical subject is "it," not "the team." Dangling. Wrong.

Answer: (B)

Tips for the ACT

• Structure questions: Check both sides of every punctuation mark — are they independent clauses, fragments, or dependent clauses?
• Rhetorical questions: Always re-read the surrounding context. The right answer depends on what the passage is trying to accomplish.
• Add/delete questions: Focus on relevance and support — not just whether the information is "interesting."
• Conciseness: The shortest grammatically correct answer is often right. If two options say the same thing, choose the shorter one.
• Transitions: Cover the transition word and predict what relationship you expect. Then match your prediction to the options.
• Modifiers: After an introductory phrase + comma, the very next noun must be the thing being described.
• Parallelism: In any list or paired structure, check that all items share the same grammatical form.
• Rhetorical questions take longer: Budget 45-60 seconds for add/delete, reorder, and purpose questions. Save time on quick grammar questions to spend it here.
• When two answers are grammatically correct: Pick the one that is more concise and direct. The ACT rewards clarity over complexity.